Growing Up Together
by NimbleLion
Summary: Finding out your best friend is a demon is hard enough with out going through mating seasons and fighting for the rights to thier kingdom. KuramaxOC


Age 6.

On a cool autumn day, a small red-brown haired girl was hiding behind her mother's, long, pleated white skirt. Brushing waist length hair behind her ear, curious blue-gray eyes scanned the colorful, first grade room. In the room with colorful posters, tables seating four scattered the room in no particular order.

"Class, I know it is only the first week of school, but we already have a new student!" At Mrs. McCall's kindly announcement, the small blue-gray eyes ducked back into their hiding place.

"Please Shinkei, come on out, you'll be fine with your new sensei," at hearing her mother's voice she obeyed and went to go sit at her designated table.

As soon as Shinkei sat down her mother walked out, hoping her only daughter would become more independent.

Chala exited the classroom and quickly pulled out her cell phone and dialed her boss's number. "Oh, Koenma sir, she is doing so well," she almost yelled into her large cell phone while looking into the window of the class room.

"Yes, yes I'm sorry, but we need you back here, I have work for you to do," replied the small prince, seemingly ignoring everything she said.

"But I'm on vacation! You said I have at least 6 weeks to get settled!"

Koenma whined, "I'm up to Ogre's head in paperwork! I need help!"

"Sorry Koenma, but I'm on vacation," she clicked off her phone.

"You know I really hate it when you disregard me like this-She hung up on me!" _I only hope her daughter won't be like this_, he thought in exasperation.

_Have you ever noticed that when you're very little you can know someone for five minutes and immediately start playing like you were best friends? _

The moment Shinkei sat down, the girl sitting directly across from her introduced herself, "Daichio, Hannah, and that's my brother, Daichio, Hanno!" Hannah, had shoulder length black hair, with one red bang. She looked like she was the smallest person in the class.

Hanno was skinny and tall, taller than all of the other six-year-olds. He had red hair, the same deep red as the color of Hannah's bang, then one black bang, the complete opposite of Hannah. His hair was short and stuck out at all angles.

"And this is Shuichi," Hannah satisfied that she introduced everyone went back to the coloring sheet she was working on, doing her best to stay inside the lines.

Shinkei waved to Hanno who just said, "Hi," then looked back down. Turning to see Shuichi, who was sitting right next to her, she introduced herself better.

"Minami, Shinkei!"

"Minamino, Shuichi."

"That's funny; both our names start with the same letters, M and S!" She smiled at the perceptive accomplishment.

Shuichi smiled back at her, "Yes, they do, that's cool."

"Shuichi?"

He turned to face her, "Hmm? What?"

"Will you be my friend?"

Shuichi smiled at the idea, "Yeah, spit shake!"

"Spit shake?"

"Mmhmm, like this," He then spit into his hand and offered it to her.

She glanced hesitantly at his hand. However the last words from her mother in the car that morning reminded her that she needed to try to make friends. _"Please, do your best to make as many friends as you can here. This is our new home."_

She as going to take her mother's words to heart and try to befriend everyone she could.

"Ok," she copied Shuichi, and then offered out her hand. They shook, mixing saliva, binding the agreement to become friends.

_That wasn't so bad,_ she thought.

"Let's all play at recess," Said Hanno, finishing his picture. "Shinkei you could be, Shuichi's buddy for the play time."

"Recess buddy?" the small girl asked.

"Yep," Hanno answered, "When we go out and play it's so big out there. So, Mrs. McCall wants us to have someone there, so we don't get hurt."

She nodded her understanding

"Shinkei, usually Hannah and Hanno are recess buddies, or we would go out with three of us, but I am not glad I have a buddy of my own!

Shinkei giggled at Shuichi, it was funny to her that he would be so happy to be her friend.

They sat quietly after that, Shinkei extremely excited about going to her first recess with her first new friends.

Age 8

On a foggy summer night, it was pouring rain, one eight-year-old girl and one three month older nine-year-old boy were watching a movie. The night was coming closer and the setting scarier, so the mother of the nine-year-old boy put in a cheery movie for the two of them to watch together, both in varying shades of matching blue pajamas.

"Shuichi?" the young girl asked.

"Yes?" he replied.

"Something bad is going to happen, I can feel it."

"I can feel it too, but we shouldn't worry about it, you don't need to worry yourself, Shinkei."

The red-brown haired girl known as Shinkei, brushed away face-framing bangs from her face, and brought her gray-blue eyes up to meet Shuichi's emerald green ones.

The small child was staying at the Minamino residence for the month of July. Her mother had a business trip, as she liked to call them, and needed someone competent, who wasn't an ogre, to watch her daughter. Mr. and Mrs. Minamino offered right away, seeing as their children were such good friends.

Mr. Minamino was due home at 8:00pm for a late dinner and Mrs. Minamino was cooking with the kids are watching a movie to pass the time.

"Thanks, Shuichi," Shinkei said gratefully.

"For what?"

"Bein' brave"

Nothing more was said on the subject.

8:00pm, "Shuichi, your father is due home any minute, please set the table, have Shinkei help you."

Their movie done and with nothing better to do, the pair nudge their way from out of the mountain of blankets and padded to the kitchen.

Both set the table with, plates with ivy lining, silver forks, and cups for everyone. Mrs. Minamino put the napkins, food and utensils, to use for the food, on the table.

"Alright," Mrs. Minamino said with a smile, "Now we wait for my husband to come home."

8:26pm

All three had eaten, hungry, and not wanting to eat a cold dinner.

"Is Father answering his phone? Mother?" Little Shuichi asked, worried.

"No, darling, he isn't," she answered.

"Is they're anything we could do Mrs. Minamino?" Shinkei asked, desperate to break the tension.

"Yes, actually," giving off the best smile she could. _Even we can tell your not happy,_ Shinkei thought. "You both can go and play in the living room."

Happy to get out of there, Shinkei had to almost drag Shuichi away from his mother. This _was the bad feeling I was talking about!_ She thought anxiously. That just left Mrs. Minamino to clean up the kitchen by her self.

8:34pm

The phone rang, having no extra hands, from cleaning the kitchen; she put it on speakerphone.

"Hello?" she called.

"…" No answer.

"Hello?" About to hang up, she heard a huge inhale.

"Hi…Sweetie." The voice was raspy and labored.

"Oh! Darling are you alright? Where are you?" A sense of urgency laced through her voice. Scared and not knowing what was going on, she could only wait for him to tell her.

Shinkei and Shuichi took this time to scuttle into the kitchen, but seeing the look on Mrs. Minamino's face, both dare not speak.

"I love you," he said, his voice painfully slows.

"Yes, I love you too, darling."

"Tell, Shuichi, that there is," he stopped, panting, " There is a gift for him under our bed…Next to the birthday present for Shinkei."

"Oh, please! Tell me what's going on! Where are you?"

Mrs. Minamino was sobbing, Shinkei was crying silently, so Shuichi took this time to talk to his father.

"Father, you will be alright, you're fine now, rest. I love you."

"I love you so much, my son."

And the line went dead.

9:12pm

Shuichi, Shinkei, and Mrs. Minamino, were all sitting in the small front living room of the house. Mrs. Minamino has not stopped crying. Shuichi and Shinkei have shared the couch, while Mrs. Minamino sat in her husband's easy chair.

There was a knock on the door. Slowly heart racing, Mrs. Minamino went to answer it.

Opening the door, she saw two policemen, looking down upon her. The one closest to the door, had a hard face and looked to be about in his mid forties. His eyes were shadowed in the dark. The younger cop standing slightly away from the door, had blonde hair made dark by the glum, stormy sky. He was fidgeting, shifting his weight from foot to foot.

"Can I help you?" Mrs. Minamino asked, scared almost to the point of fainting.

The children, not really sure what to do, move closer to the door so they are right behind Mrs. Minamino.

"Yes," the first officer said," are you Mrs. Minamino?"

"Yes, I am."

The youngest cop looked as if he would be happy if he was anywhere but here.

"I am sorry ma'am, but your husband, he was in a horrible car accident, he died tonight. Both of the drivers are dead."

Mrs. Minamino sank to the floor, sobbing. The police left having done what they came to do. Shuichi ran off to his room, tears visible in his eyes.

Waiting, until she herself had calmed down, Shinkei made her way to Shuichi's room.

She knocked.

"I can hear you in there Shuichi, please let me in."

The door opened, standing there with red puffy eyes was her first and best friend. Shinkei could feel herself crying again. _I can't and I won't_, she thought. Shuichi went to go and sit on his bed, after some hesitation, Shinkei followed. It seemed as if the storm outside reflected the mood of the house.

"It's just not fair!" He yells, lightning flashes accenting the statement. Then he broke out sobbing.

Coming over to comfort her friend Shinkei stood in front of him. Shuichi was sitting on his bed, head down with his bangs shadowing his eye, didn't even bother to look up. Nothing needed to be said, nothing could be said. The girl in the blue pajamas sat on the bed, leaving almost no room between the two of them.

Slowly she put her arms around him, hoping to comfort the best she could. He went rigid, not really ready to accept the comfort. Shinkei just hugged him tighter, knowing in her 8 year old mind that he needed this.

Hesitantly, he circled his arms around her, burying his face in the crook of her neck, and cried.

Feeling the moist tears on her neck, little eight-year-old Shinkei silently cried along with her young nine-year-old best friend, while lightly stroking his hair.

10:00pm

Both feeling a bit better considering the situation, they broke the embrace. They decided to take a look at the gifts that Mr. Minamino left them. Cautiously walking into the main bedroom, careful not to wake Mrs. Minamino, Shuichi lifted the bed curtain and looked underneath. Pulling out two boxes, Shinkei and Shuichi headed back to their previous room.

Carefully, as to not wake his mother, Shuichi and Shinkei unwrapped their designated boxes.

"Shuichi you missed the card," holding up a bright gift card from the floor.

He opened it; tears sprang to his eyes as he read the card.

_"My son,_

_I am so proud of you, making new friends, being more social; you are growing up so fast._

_This gift is a gift of my love for you, keep it with you, always. If you have noticed there are two of the same in there, one could be for me, or someone else you may wish to give it to. _

_I know something is going to happen to me, I have felt it for days. But please do not be sad for me. Protect and care for your mother, and your true friends. This is all I ask. Please, son._

_I love you with all my heart."_

After he had read it, they took out two black leather bracelets. Both have half the kanji symbol of peace and love. Connected the bracelets are whole. Shuichi put one on, he had to pull the laces tighter, but he knew it would be perfect size for him eventually.

While Shuichi was putting on his gift Shinkei opened hers. She gasped; there were two beautiful, locket necklaces. The thin chain was perfect to just slip over her head. Inside both was the same picture. It was a photo taken that summer, about mid June. It was two lines of people, first was the adults, Mrs. Minami, Mr. and Mrs. Minamino, and then Mr. and Mrs. Daichio, Hannah and Hanno's mom and dad. Then the children, as the parents had a longer attention span, they were lined up perfectly in a row. Their children, on the other hand, were practically falling on each other. First it was Hanno, leaning on Shinkei with his arm wrapped around her, then it was Shuichi, who was being leaned on by Hannah. All had arms around the kid next to them.

_It was a dog pile after that picture_, Shinkei remembered fondly, tears leaving tracks down her face.

The other was exactly the same. On the other side of the picture was a little note that read, 'put a new picture here, when you find one that's special.' _I will_, she promised.

10:36pm

Shuichi and Shinkei both decided to give each other one of their gift. It was a symbol that they could make it through this, and become better and closer friends, "if that is even possible," commented Shinkei, "Shh! Don't ruin the moment," Shuichi said, after presenting Shinkei with his gift.

"Good bye father," Shuichi said, throwing his first rose he ever grew with his demon energy onto the top of his father's casket just as he was lowered into the ground.

_So it is true _Shinkei thought, _I could feel the energy coming from him!_

**This is something I wrote a very long time ago. I'm just cleaning out the computer. Age 6 and 8 were originally 2 separate chapters. Sorry if it is horribly written, but I tried to fix it the best I could. I know Kurama is ooc, but you have to remember his age. **

**And this is going to be a KuramaxOc, check the rating. Please don't flame unless it's constructive. **


End file.
